Winstons 296 SOLD

Tree Tops, 157

Once again, working on my trees, specifically the "sky holes." These were not as successful as I would like, but I good piece not the less. Sketch holes are more low key in comparison to the rest of the sky, just because they are surrounded by a darker color and stand out too much if done in the same value. Just because I understand it, doesn't mean I can do it! Equally as hard would be rendering tress with minimal leave, like the trees on the left. Too much contrast there between the three itself and the background. Hope to rework this one later and fix the sky holes.

Pumpkin on Blue, 147

I did this piece right after the fair but I have been so busy I have yet to post anything all week, even though I have completed several paintings, I guess that is a good problem to have. I have been taking a great deal of pictures but have once again suffered a severe external back-up drive met down and can't get to the latest pictures I have taken... I think it is time for a new computer with enough hard drive space to keep all of my music and pictures on it. This one is limping around and so is the external.

I have had the little pumpkins sitting around the house and used them as paper weights at the Fair. I was somewhat pleased with the outcome here, I need more time back in the saddle and I know I can make something interesting out of these little dudes!

Toward the Covered Bridge, 131

This was a little area we found while out cruising one afternoon around our house. I can't remember the road it is off of because it is at the crossroad of 2 obscure dirt roads, but I know it was on the to or from the Covered Bridge. Guess I could go take a ride and find out, but I like the name...

This was done in the palette of death, which I will soon have to rename... it is getting easier to use and it just makes everything sing and glow... everything has an energy to it. I love it! each 150ml tube is about $25 but worth every cent. Don't know if I will be using any of it anytime soon with the palette knife, but I ordered 2 extra tubes of each just in case...

Peach Explosion 107 SOLD

I did this piece after that last post, it is a different peach, I did not glue them back together. I really love the way in blew into a zillion pieces. The abstract quality is always what makes me the most interested in a piece. It is something you see every day, but deconstructed, shattered, broken, but whole. After all, that is our job, to make see things you see every day in a way that you have never seen them before.

Three Lemons on Lilac 096 SOLD

Lemons were about the only thing left in the kitchen that we had enough of that I could cut up. Lemons were much more difficult than I had anticipated, I can't quite put my finger on it, but I will try! They were a lot greener than I thought and had a whole lot less yellow than I had anticipated. I am not exactly sure what I expected at the end, but I guess this is close enough. It has been a while since I have painted a vegetable or fruit, so it was not as easy as I had hope. I am pleased with the end result of the experiment.

SOLD

Kiwi 084

It felt great to get back to small stuff today. I love these smaller pieces. I can get something out of them that I can get out of a larger piece. The larger pieces seem so over worked in comparison to the smaller ones, it feels like using a butter knife to fix a loose screw on a pair of glasses, but that is what is so great. When you work larger, all your tools are small, when you work small, all your tools are large. I also get the perfect amount of form breakdown and it is easier to build up the large cuts of paint with the knife. The small paintings are awesome. Fresh, distorted and full of life. A little piece of painting goodness...

Lower Field 045

It was such a beautiful day today, after painting in the studio and working on cartoons for a bit, I escaped to the great outdoors. I loaded up the plein aire gear and Mo the dog (short for Modigliani because of his long neck) in the Land Cruiser and headed out. I am not usually a dog person, but this one took up with me after being put out and involved in a dog fight. I nursed him back to health and tried to find the owners, but no luck. He is everything I do like about dogs... quiet, not too hyper and very sweet. Best of all, every time I open the door to the house, he jumps in the Land Cruiser like we are going somewhere, wether we are or not. Sometimes he just sits there in the passenger seat and watches me work in the yard, wondering when the drive will begin.

I drove around Lory and David's property a while before I found a spot not to far from our house where I started... sometimes it is funny like that. The late afternoon sun was just the way I like it. I still need to work on my lighting a bit, sometimes I feel like the pieces are lit from above instead of from the side. Shadows are still a mystery to me, but I think these are passable for now!

Stand of Pines in Yellow and Green 045

Thought I would dust out the cobwebs today with a smaller stand of pines piece. Spring is in the air and I have green on my mind. I love the size of this piece as well as it being on the gallery wrap. The greens and yellows were a little to bright for my taste, but perhaps later today I will do another one in a palette more suited to my tastes. I will have more posts coming from today. I have finished my cartoons and have inspiration and time coming out of my ears.

Orange Pepper 041

I bought this beauty and a green one to go with it. The green one made it as far as dinner, and I wish I had painted them together. I like the way this one came out, but I am getting a bit tired of the one object studies, however. I especially liked the way the green and orange worked together. Oh well, to bad for me. The green pepper was delish... and the orange one will be soon.